Fanning himself, Chu Junyi walked out of the yard along with the others. He could not help laughing in his heart. Today’s drama was really wonderful. He wondered if there would be anything more wonderful. Before he finished thinking over an idea, he heard a scream, followed by a plop.
“Miss!”
Shen Linghan, who was walking by the pond, slipped and fell into it.
Madam Zhao was shocked and suddenly realized that the person in the pond was her dear daughter. She hurriedly shouted, “Quickly, quickly go down into the pond to save her!” After those words, she abruptly looked with her sword-like eyes at Shen Ninghua, as if she wanted to bite a piece of flesh off Shen Ninghua.
Shen Dong was also shocked. He raised his eyes and glanced at Shen Ninghua, who also looked surprised. He frowned and looked around at the guards. Surely, he couldn’t let these guards jump into the pond to get Shen Linghan out. Otherwise, her reputation would be ruined. “You all turn around. Qing Que, you are good at martial arts. Go save the miss!”
Zhao Yunxiang raised her head abruptly, with an indescribable cold glare in her eyes, “No need. Nurse Qin, you go.”
As soon as Madam Zhao finished her last word, Nurse Qin jumped into the water.
The pond was not very deep, but it was full of lotuses. Now it was summer, and lotus leaves were quite lush. After Shen Linghan fell into the pond, she disappeared completely. It would take Nurse Qin quite some time to find her.
Shen Ninghua stood not far away from the bank. She looked at the lotus leaves in the water, and her heart was quivering with coldness. The reason why so many lotuses were planted was because Shen Linghan really liked watching them, and she also liked dressing up as a lotus picking girl to row and play in the pond. In the beginning, the eldest prince, today’s Crown Prince Baili Jinyi, was overwhelmed by her beauty when he saw her picking lotuses and vowed to marry her as his crown princess.
However, two months before their marriage, Baili Jinze, regardless of the improper timing, brought to light the Crown Prince’s plot of high treason. At that time, the Crown Prince was still very powerful, and Shen Ninghhua’s staff fought desperately and succeeded in escaping with the evidence of the Crown Prince’s high treason. On the way to the palace, she was ambushed by the Crown Prince’s men. She was seriously wounded and became infertile.
After the Crown Prince fell from power, she lay in bed for three months. At that time, Baili Jinze held her hands and promised her earnestly. Now when she recalled it, the words were as clear as if they were said yesterday. “I would not marry anyone else even if I will have no children. Because there are plenty of royal relatives to choose as our heir, but you are the only one.”
At that time, she felt she could sacrifice for him without regret. Now, she found him to be extremely disgusting. Maybe he was so anxious back then just for Shen Linghan, the first beauty in the capital!
As Shen Ninghua coldly observed Baili Jinze’s anxious expression, she felt the chill in her heart. If Shen Linghan was the best at guessing people’s minds, then Baili Jinze was no doubt the best at lying.
In the beginning, he weaved countless beautiful dreams for her with lies. In those dreams he was spoony, loyal, and gentle. But in reality, he broke her wings, tramped her into the mire from the cloud, and became the ruler of the country with Shen Linghan, the woman he “loved” for all his life. She, on the other hand, lay in the cold palace, and even died without a burial place in the end.
Baili Jinze and Chu Junyi had special statuses. The guards all turned around, but the two of them were in an embarrassed situation: neither leaving or staying was a good choice.
Seeing that Shen Dong was too worried to pay attention to them, Chu Junyi simply swayed his fan and continued to watch the drama. Anyway, even if there was something wrong, there was the fifth prince to control the situation. He was simply accompanying the prince to the banquet.
Finally, there was a movement in the water. After fumbling for quite a while, Nurse Qin finally grabbed Shen Linghan’s clothes and pulled her up.
Madam Zhao’s face was pale. Seeing Shen Linghan surface to the water, she hurriedly ordered the nurses beside her, “Move quickly to help.”
Several nurses went forward and hurriedly pulled Shen Linghan and Nurse Qin up together. They had just pulled Shen Linghan to the bank when she suddenly woke up and began to struggle abruptly. “Ghost! There’s a ghost in the water! Let go of me!”
“Linghan, my daughter, what’s wrong with you?”
Shen Linghan seemed not to hear Madam Zhao’s words. Her feet were still fluttering.
A nurse lost her balance and was almost dragged into the water by Shen Linghan. She hurriedly pulled Shen Linghan to the bank.
“Hey, what is that…”
The other nurses followed her eyesight and saw a wrinkled hand tightly grasping Shen Linghan’s ankle. They were so scared that they almost relaxed their hold and dropped Shen Linghan back into the pond. Shen Dong was scared, “Hurry up, pull the miss up!”
Nurse Qin was also shocked. Her face was livid with determination and she suddenly chopped on the hand that was grasping Shen Linghan’s ankle. Then she pushed Shen Linghan up to the bank.
At this time, Shen Linghan was wet all over. The bead hairpin on her head disappeared, and there were threads of water grass and moss sticking to her face. She was totally in a mess and her situation could not be worse.
Shen Ninghua said with a worried face, “Qing Que, hurry to my yard and get a dress for my sister.” Tranquility Yard was the nearest place to the pond. She was obliged to care about her younger sister, wasn’t she?
“Yes, miss.”
Madam Zhao’s mind was all focused on Shen Linghan, and she kept urging servants to get a doctor. Fortunately, Qi Zhengjun hadn’t left yet. As soon as Qing Que came back with a cloak and put it on Shen Linghan, Qi Zhengjun arrived.
Seeing Shen Linghan’s condition, he was also shocked. He stepped forward to feel her pulse, but Shen Linghan pushed him away and cried, “There’s a ghost in the water! Mother, someone was dragging my feet!”
Madam Zhao hugged her, wiped the water off her face with sleeves, and snapped, “There’s no ghost in the world. It was just people playing tricks!”
Without waiting for Madam Zhao’s order, Nurse Qin dragged out of the water the person who was pulling Shen Linghan’s ankle.
When people saw the person, they were all shocked. It was the missing Nurse Zhou!